The strategy is still focused on Islamic terrorist groups. "Radical Islamist terrorist groups represent the pre-eminent transnational terrorist threat to the United States and to the United States' interests abroad," Bolton told reporters during a briefing on the new policy.
He called the new strategy "the nation's first robust, fully articulated counterterrorism strategy since 2011."
A White House release on the new strategy reveals a six-pronged approach that encompasses pursuing terrorists to their source, isolating terrorists from their sources of support, modernizing and integrating the United States' counterterrorism tools, protecting American infrastructure and enhancing resilience, countering terrorist radicalization and recruitment, and strengthening the counterterrorism abilities of our international partners.
"Working with foreign governments, we will encourage burden sharing with capable partners so they can play a larger role in counterterrorism efforts," Bolton noted.
The adviser also discussed Iran and China specifically, calling Tehran the "world's central banker for international terrorism since 1979" and saying he had "never seen anything like the scope of the Chinese activities" to meddle in US domestic affairs recently.
— Tara McKelvey (@Tara_Mckelvey) October 4, 2018
Bolton was also quoted by reporters as saying that climate change is not the cause of international terrorism and how the stance being taken by the Trump administration is much different from previous US administrations. "This is not the Obama administration," he said.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "The president's strategy emphasizes the importance of diplomacy and the role of international partnerships in combating the terrorist threats we face. The strategy recognizes the need for all nations to equitably share the burden of confronting terrorism, to expand the counterterrorism capabilities of our partners, and to work collaboratively to defeat the terrorists of today and tomorrow."
